Seafood Feast

Bouillabaisse

There is nothing quite like seafood that you have caught yourself. Knowing exactly where and when it was caught enables you to get the freshest and finest quality seafood available. On the menu today I have hand-caught lobster, line- caught snapper (both from the crystal blue waters of the South Coast), New Zealand mussels and some Australian banana prawns.

With these beautiful ingredients I start to hunt for the perfect recipe. After scouring through countless cook books I stumble across a classic French soup which is just right. Plenty of garlic and tomatoes, this soup promised to be amazing.

The recipe called for a variety of seafood but as I had the lobsters I decided to leave out the scampi, scallops and fish fillets. My dad would cook his prize snapper in ginger soy marinade.

The lobsters looked daunting with their spiked shells and long feelers but they needed to be cleaned and cut into manageable size chunks. I am sure that with practice a lobster can be cut up easily but my first attempt took a while.

This soup was cooked for a Sunday lunch, with my grandparents and my great grandparents gathered round. I chose to cook this soup as they love seafood and I wanted to cook them something a little different and that they would not have tried before. The soup and my dad’s snapper were a hit all round with my pop saying “It’s the best seafood I’ve ever had!”

Bouillabaisse Recipe:

I would recommend halving the amount of aioli and rouille. Also the recipe says that it serves 6 but I served 8.

Preparation time: 35 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

500g mussels

1kg scampi

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 small leeks (400g), chopped finely

1 large fennel bulb (650g), sliced thinly

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 Thai red chilli, seeded chopped finely

6 medium tomatoes (1.2kg), peeled and chopped coarsely

2 litres (8 cups) fish stock

6 saffron threads

400g firm white fish fillets, chopped coarsely

200g scallops

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

AIOLI

4 cloves garlic, quartered

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup (250ml) olive oil

ROUILLE

2 medium red capsicums (400g)

2 Thai red chillies, seeded, chopped coarsely

1 clove garlic, quartered

2 tablespoons stale breadcrumbs

¼ cup (60ml) olive oil

Method:

1.       Scrub mussels under cold water; remove beards. Shell and devein half of the scampi; remove the heads from remaining half.

2.       Heat oil in a large heavy based saucepan; cook leak, fennel, garlic and chilli, stirring, about 10 minutes or until leek softens. Add tomato, stock and saffron; bring to a boil. Simmer uncovered, about 20 minutes or until tomato is pulpy, stirring occasionally. Strain mixture into large clean saucepan; discard vegetables.

3.       Bring stock mixture to a boil. Add mussels and scampi; simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until mussels open (discard any that do not).

4.       Add fish and scallops to pan; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Just before serving, stir in parsley. Serve with aioli and rouille.

AIOLI: blend or process garlic, egg yolks and juice until creamy. With motor operating, gradually

Add oil; process until aioli thickens.

ROUILLE: Quarter capsicums, remove and discard seeds and membranes. Roast under grill or in very hot oven, skin side up, until skin blisters and blackens. Cover capsicum pieces with plastic or paper for 5 minutes; peel away skin, chop coarsely. Process capsicum, chilli, garlic and breadcrumbs until combined. With motor operating, gradually add oil; process until rouille thickens.

Serves 6